The Misfits / Balzac / Rock City Morgue: live in New Yorklive in New York (2005)The Misfits

Reviewer Rating: 4

User Rating:

Contributed by: greenertongreenerton(others by this writer | submit your own)Published on November 8th 2005Now, before the angry comments start, lemme just say: The Misfits still have it. I'm a staunch Danzig supporter. I was always on his side in all the Danzig vs. Fakefits stuff, but I had a lot of fun at this show.
But let me start from the beginning.
So, a few weeks back a friend of mine (insan.

Now, before the angry comments start, lemme just say: The Misfits still have it. I'm a staunch Danzig supporter. I was always on his side in all the Danzig vs. Fakefits stuff, but I had a lot of fun at this show.

But let me start from the beginning.

So, a few weeks back a friend of mine (insane Misfits fan) told me about this show, and the fact that it was on Halloween. Now, I love the Misfits. I love the Danzig 'fits, and I enjoyed the Graves era (even if their songs lacked the dark humor of Danzig's lyrics). Unfortunately, I've seen the videos of some of the trio shows, and I thought that they lacked energy and Only's voice wasn't that great...but it's the Misfits, and it's Halloween. I bought a ticket.

Fast forward to October 31st. We show up outside B.B. King's about an hour before doors open. Decent line already, but mostly dumb kids and aging "that guy" hipsters (Crimson Ghost shirts) in the crowd; a lot of them went for the beer rather than the stage, so we were up against the rail. There was a number of nice Balzac/Misfits fans up front, so the wait wasn't too bad. They showed two classic horrible `50s horror films while we hung around: "Robot Monster" and "Plan 9 from Outer Space." It was good times, but at a certain point it got kinda stupid. Now, I've been to a fair number of shows in my time; I know they can run a bit late sometimes. That's all fine and dandy, I understand. The show was supposed to start at 8pm; no one was even standing on stage until after 9pm. I still don't know what happened. Rock City Morgue was already set up when we got inside, and didn't even do a sound check in that extra hour -- apparently it was already done. It was really frustrating, because there was no visible reason for the show to start late...they weren't having sound problems or anything, they just started an hour late for some bizzare reason. It really sucked, as most people had plans for the rest of the night; it's Halloween, after all. Finally at around 9:15pm, Rock City Morgue took the stage.

I don't really know how to describe these guys. They were pretty good, and I'm thinking of checking out whatever stuff they have out. They reminded the crowd repeatedly that they were from New Orleans, which you could pretty much tell with the sound. I guess, think of a bluesy horror-punk band. Some asshole was really pissed about the show being late, so he took it out on these guys. It was pretty lame, he kept yelling shit non-stop for about ten minutes, flipping them off. The
lead singer just chuckled and went on singing. At one point he got violent though, when this girl started to get in his face, dancing and singing along, he pushed her and a circle opened up in the pit. She eventually jumped on his back, at which point he went ballistic, and security jumped in and basically dragged him out as he was making an even bigger ass of himself. It was pretty fucking funny; the whole
crowd cheered. Stupid asshole.

Next up was Balzac. Almost everyone on the rail besides me and my friend were there for Balzac it seemed, and a couple guys were just constantly waxing poetic about them. "They're the best band ever," "I've been following their tour for weeks," etc. etc. I've heard of them, and I know they're from Japan, but I'd never heard a song. After a while setting up, they finally took the stage, with the singer in full
Danzig-style skeleton gear. It was a really fun set; they're a pretty awesome band, but not quite the best ever. The "whoa-ohs," however, were great. You can tell they started out as a Misfits cover band.

Ah, the moment [most] everyone was waiting for -- the Misfits. On Halloween. Now, I was a little apprehensive about this performance. On the one hand, it's THE Halloween band, on Halloween. On the other hand...no Danzig. I swallowed my elitist pride and quietly waited while their crew set up what turned out to be a somewhat dramatic, but at the same time humorously anti-climatic entrance.

Basically, they were behind a curtain...but it was a manual curtain, so when they started the intro music, four guys had to run up and take it down, with all the gear and decorations and shit set up behind it. It was kinda cheesy and funny, but simultaneously pretty awesome. They had a sweet setup, with bloodied skulls and the works. Robo came out first as some sort of tribal thing, then Dez as this zombie-ish thing, and Jerry as himself, but in some pretty cool skeleton armor with his trademark tricked-out bass. They tore right into "Halloween", and I was instantly glad I came to the show. Jerry had incredible energy, more than I expected, that's for sure. His voice was excellent, and the crowd went fucking nuts.

Trying to remember the entire set list would be pointless. Just think of all your favorite Misfits songs; they played them. They did a really long set, and in classic Misfits fashion as well, all played much faster than the studio versions. "Last Caress," "Hybrid Moments," "Attitude," "Horror Business," "Astro
Zombies," "I Turned Into a Martian," "20 Eyes", "Green Hell," and more. After a while of Danzig classics, they started "American Psycho" and did about 5-10 Graves songs. "Helena" was excellent, but I was disappointed they didn't play my personal favorite, "Descending Angel." They played four Black Flag covers throughout the set. I know the first one was "Six Pack" and the last was "Rise Above," but I
didn't recognize the other two. It would have helped if I could actually hear Dez's singing AND guitar. Oy vey, Dez. Now, Robo did an adequate job on the drums, Jerry was fantastic on bass, but Dez...what happened to this guy? He looked incredibly bored and lazy. He fucked up a lot, and his guitar didn't even work for the opening of "Rise Above." Thankfully with Jerry's fantastic bass playing it didn't
really matter (he did the opening instead), but still, it was pretty disappointing. Also, I couldn't hear a word of his singing. They ended with a great performance of "Die, Die My Darling," after which the band stayed signing autographs and talking with fans for a long time. I'm pretty sure they talked to every single fan there before leaving, and the show was sold out.

All in all, the show was a lot of fun. Jerry's a really great guy, regardless of the shit that's gone down in the past with him. You could tell he loved what he was doing, and he mentioned once or twice how he wishes Danzig the best, and that what's in the past is past. It'd be great to see the guys reconcile, and settle this shit once and for all. Who knows what the future holds?

love the misfits but glenn really made the band complete.. well fuck it theyre legends and they fucking kick ass

Anonymous (March 24, 2006)

I really had nothing to do that night after the Misfits show, so it was cool that they played Plan 9 and Robot Monster (two really hilarious movies might I add) before the music. I was really glad I got to see my favorite band on earth on halloween, in NYC. It was really amazing. I'm not a big fan of the Graves-era "new Misfits" stuff, but I've seen these guys every single time they came through Philly and Jersey, because I love them that much. The people who are sour about Jerry doing this just for money, know this: he runs a metalworking shop on the side and also talks to Glenn Danzig constantly. There's no hate between the two, just hate between the companies that merchandise their shit.

You make it seem like Danzig doesn't do shit for money! Fuck, the only reason he broke up Samhain was because he wanted to get into better venues and make more cash with Rick Rubin! He disbanded Samhain to form Rubin's dream "heavy metal supergroup", if you all recall.

Anonymous (November 30, 2005)

Saw them halloween weekend and they were pretty good. They played way too loud so I couldnt distinguish vocals too well. Jerry's base was dead on. Dez was fine in my opinion. I didn't see him fuck up. I'm not sure why so many people out there thought they sucked so bad. They showed plenty of charisma, and played well. Im not a hardcore fan by any standards, so its not like im bullshitting this.

Anonymous (November 10, 2005)

the misfits are i guess legends or whatever.
but come on.
it's fucking garbage.

Anonymous (November 10, 2005)

Fuck Jerry Only, that man would do anything for a buck. Marky Ramone and Jerry Only should both be euthanized before they can do any more damage to their former bands' legacies. That Marky/Misfits tour was one of the worst things I've ever seen. I can't believe that they kept going after the first few dates knowing how hard they were sucking every night. You dumb ass kids need to stop paying for this shit so Marky, Jerry, and the "DK Kennedys" will finally take their rightful places in the retirement home.

Jerry is a really great performer still. i saw them about a year ago once and he had the whole crowd going. He also stayed after at my show and signed everyones ticket, and was even walking around outside before. He's a really cool guy. i would like for him and Danzig to kick it again haha but i have no hate towards either.

Anonymous (November 9, 2005)

Hmm... I've never heard anyone even hint at conceding that the "Fakefits" or whatever were any good.

Certainly no one likes the "Dead Kennedys."

So, the positivity here is kind of surprising and makes me think of checking them out next time they're in town.

to those who say they dont need to see the fakefits live because of whatever recorded shit....

i never enjoyed graves-era, but i got a free ticket to see them halloween 2000. best show ive ever been to. there is just something about seeing them live that wipes the whole "danzig's not here" thought out of your mind.

I saw a video of the Jerry/Marky/Dez tours doing "Attitude", and it was fucking terrible...so, I wasn't looking forward to the show really, but I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't hear Dez at all (and when I could, he was awful) but Jerry really carried the set, his voice was excellent, as was his bass playing and energy. Robo was good on drums, so overall it was a lot of fun, and hey, it was the Misfits on Halloween. It was good times, I'm glad I went.

i saw them about a year ago with marky still on drums. it was horrid, you had to listen to every song closely to even figure out what they were playing. i thought it was the club but i heard thats how the last few tours had been, jerry and dez's vocals were mixed so low you couldn't hear anything other than mumbling. terrible

Anonymous (November 8, 2005)

I went to this show, and the time thing was a bitch. Starting that late was fucking stupid, and I almost left at one point. Seriously.

However, the show itself was great. So much fun, I couldn't think of a better way to spend Halloween.

Regardless of all the trash people talk about Jerry, he's always really kind to the opening bands and he stays after every show to sign autographs for kids until every single kid that wanted a picture or an autograph gets one. Often staying well after all the bands are torn down and loaded out. That's pretty cool in my book.

I almost left before the show even started cause of the wait (and the fact I was going to Rocky Horror at midnight, and I'd rather see that than a bad Misfits set) but they were good, so it was all good.